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Indigo Team
Given the secretive nature of the Office of Naval Intelligence, and the confusing records of the Spartan-II Program, it is difficult to tally the total number of Spartans in service. Official records indicate that 75 were forcibly recruited in 2517, and that of them only 33 survived augmentation. Since then, until 2552, officially, only four Spartans have become "MIA," one retiring, and another too wounded to continue serving. However, there are discrepancies - Indigo Team is one of them. While a few among Section Zero believe Indigo to belong to the little-known Class II of the Spartan II Program, or even Spartan III soldiers trained by Lieutenant Commander Kurt Ambrose, Indigo were actually among the original recruits, and were trained alongside their fellow conscripted supersoldier candidates. During the augmentation process, they were transferred to Naval Special Warfare, separate from Naval Special Weapons, field testing much of the new technology developed for use by combat personnel. For the most part, their existence has been classified at the highest level, only deployed in combat theatres where the other Spartans are elsewhere. After the fall of Reach, Indigo Team were some of the few surviving Spartan II's to survive, and as such their presence could no longer be kept a top secret. History Origins The biggest problem with the SPARTAN-II Program, and the reason why a second class was never commissioned, was the rarity of suitable candidates. With billions of citizens on Earth, and the Inner and Outer Colonies, the Office of Naval Intelligence was still only able to pinpoint a total of 150 children with the suitable genetic and physical markers of a potential Spartan. After the fall of the Outer Colonies and the slaughter of billions, the numbers simply didn't allow a large enough gene pool to produce candidates of Spartan-II grade, though Spartan-III recruits were still in abundant supply. This population problem was also the reason why the Office of Naval Intelligence kept a number of important details classified above even Doctor Catherine Halsey, the "mother" of the Spartan-II Program - as far as she knew, one hundred and fifty children werre identified, seventy five were abducted and recruited into the Spartan program, and only thirty three survived the augmentation process. In actual fact, it is possible that almost all of those numbers were falsified by elements of Section III - not keen on the idea of a civilian as a part of the military chain of command in the deployment of anti-insurrectionist super-commandoes, Section III abducted more recruits than Halsey ever learned of. Their training was still overseen by Chief Petty Officer Mendez, under explicit orders not to divulge their existence to the doctor, something he became very good at over the years, and their records were kept secured on an external system, AI-proof, classified November Black to prevent Halsey's curiosity from exposing the additions to the program. Still more Spartan-II's entered the chain of command separate from Halsey when her Spartan-II candidates were augmented. It is true that a large number died, or were crippled from complications during the augmentation process - adverse reactions to the chemical augmentations and gene therapy, ceramic-titanium grafts, neural implants, and so on - but a number did survive in reasonably good health, enough to continue to serve in combat duties. Others would recover, through extensive recovery therapy, though for all intents and purposes they were officially deemed "unfit for duty" to Halsey and transferred. These were covertly transferred from Halsey's control into a separate division of Naval Special Warfare as part of Project INDIGO. Exactly when Indigo Team diverged from the "other" Spartans is unknown. Andrew-306 at least seems to have some memories of Doctor Halsey, though his ID tag is higher than the numbers her Spartans were assigned. Laura-125 and Jeremy-068, on the other hand, have never showed any evidence of meeting her, though they retain the same respect for Chief Petty Officer Mendez held by all Spartan-II personnel. What is known is that they were assigned to a separate Naval Special Warfare unit. Access to the MJOLNIR Mark IV was difficult to acquire without Halsey's knowledge, and for the first few years of the Great War they operated using standard Special Warfare suits used by ODST personnel, though with some modifications. When they finally acquired the signature powered armour of the Spartan-II soldiers, they had already engaged in combat on six colonies, acquiring an impressive kill count and mission success rate. With the MJOLNIR, their performance improved exponentially. Deployment As the Outer Colonies fell one by one, ONI Section III realised the boost to morale that the Spartan Myth could provide - the knowledge that there were superhuman soldiers fighting for Earth and her colonies was a morale boost in itself, but for those who actually fought alongside these soldiers the effect was tripled. Nevertheless, Indigo Team's existence was never officially declassified, and they continued to engage in a number of low-visibility high-priority missions - long-range assassinations, materiel extraction, and information security being among the most important. By 2531, very little unsecured navigational information existed to be retrieved by Covenant special operations teams - Indigo Team can hardly claim all of the credit, given the efforts of other Spartan teams, as well as Naval and Marine operations, but they still played an integral part. In addition to the Covenant onslaught, Indigo Team also participated in operations against what little remained of the Insurrectionist factions still struggling to operate. After the fall of the Outer Colonies, Indigo Team's existence became harder to keep classified. Though still performing assassination and infiltration missions, they were also participating in more general combat operations, with interaction with regular service personnel an inevitability. As colony after colony fell, Indigo Team's actions became increasingly involved in supporting the defence of the planets, cooperating with UNSC Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps personnel. Rumours of Spartans outside of the core group were bound to get out eventually, but it is fortunate for ONI that either they never reached Doctor Halsey, or she put little faith in such rumours. Certainly, there are far more outlandish myths about Spartans. Nevertheless, security surrounding Indigo team's existence was tightened, including data purges by Navy AI sentinels. For the most part, exactly where Indigo Team operated has been strictly classified under the NOVEMBER BLACK directive. The only engagements where their presence can be positively confirmed is in the Delta Pavonis and Procyon combat theatresDelta Pavonis System, Pavo Prime, September 13th - October 17th 2549,Operation: HELLSCAPEAlpha Canis Minoris System, Minorca II, March 2121 - September 16th, Operation: HOT GATES. Part of a UNSC battlegroup from the UNSC 30th Fleet responding to the attack on the colony by a small Covenant taskforce, the Spartans inserted onto the asteroid colony along with the 506th ODST Battalion - infiltrating Covenant territory, the Spartans engaged in materiel capture, recovery and destruction operations, assisting UNSC ground forces in the securing of vital areas of the internal and external regions of the colony. They were a part of the diversionary attack on Covenant defences, allowing the 506th Battalion to capture a Covenant command point, and took part in the mop-up operation when the Covenant withdrew. Still attached to the 30th Fleet, they were a part of the ground forces that took part in the ground campaign on Minorca, fighting against Covenant troops, and performing reconnaissance, infiltration and assassination operations against high value targets. It was a bullet fired by Laura-125 that brought down Field Master Ulma 'Warrumee, Covenant commander of the eastern offensive action, and Indigo Team also assisted in the extraction of Azure Team and the Marine Platoon assigned to them. Indigo Team was part of the forces that struggled to hold the line against the still Feral-stage Flood, keeping it confined to the containment zone. After the evacuation of the planet, Indigo detonated a HAVOK nuclear warhead, wiping out the Flood presence, evacuating aboard a Pelican dropship to rendezvous with the Prowler One-Eyed Wanderer. End of the Great War and Post-War Indigo Team would participate in a number of engagements afterwards, including the pitched defence of Mars, the counter-attacks against Covenant-occupied areas on Earth, and the battle of Sydney. Part of the UNSC taskforce that followed Covenant forces through a second, smaller portal underneath Sydney, Indigo were a part of the Mandorla Campaign. After the conclusion of the Human-Covenant War, their operations were once again classified Top Secret, though they participated in the Battle of Unmoving VirtueTau Geminorum, Unmoving Virtue, December 25th, Operation: TACK HAMMER, performed anti-piracy operations against Kig-yar privateersJune 3rd, Operation: CORSAIR, and also took part in Operation: LAMENTATION at Expansive Judgement.Alpha Geminorum System, Exalted Virtue, June 30th, Operation: LAMENTATION Indigo Team would continue to serve the UNSC throughout the Second Great War, and took part in the groundside defence of Juno and the assault on the Nexus HubMu Arae System, Juno, 2569Unknown Star System (Praesepe Star Cluster), Nexus Hub, 2569, as well as continued operations to beat back the advance of the Governors of Contrition. Equipment Given the personal interest Doctor Halsey took in all of her projects, and especially the SPARTAN-II and MJOLNIR Projects, it was difficult for ONI to procure sets of MJOLNIR Mark IV without attracting her attention, and for the first few years of the Human-Covenant War, Indigo operated using a series of modified Orbital Drop Shock Trooper equipment, and even the precursors to the SPI used by later Spartan-III's. While this certainly preserved their identities at a critical time for the Spartan-II personnel, it was no MJOLNIR - eventually, ONI were able to enlist the services of Project: VAJRA-II, an unofficial internal build team composed of former members of the doomed Project: VAJRA who supplied Indigo Team with prototype improvements to their MJOLNIR, effectively serving as testbeds for new technologies that would be later introduced. In 2542, Indigo upgraded from the V-II/A to the V-II/D, the first powered armour to include a truly functional energy shield system, using experimental Solid Light Barrier generators, and their engagements over the next ten years would greatly increase the UNSC's understanding of energy shield technology. Nevertheless, by 2551 their MJOLNIR Mark IV V-II/D variant armour had become obsolete with the impending introduction of the MJOLNIR Mark V, and in early February, during operations on Minorca, Indigo recieved a set of the first production models, being the first team to combat test the Mark V. The replacement of the unreliable solid light barrier system with a more conventional layer of recharging electromagnetic shields proved to be a sound move, and the adoption was recieved well by the members of Indigo Team itself. After the battle of Minorca and the withdrawal to Earth, though, even the Mark V was rendered out of date by the introduction of the parallel-developed MJOLNIR Mark VI. Shortages meant that no members of Indigo Team would recieve Mark VI MJOLNIR armour, preferring the option to undergo an extensive upgrades to their Mark V suits instead to modernise the technology. This would be the equipment they were to fight in for the early hours of the Battle of Earth, and during the Battle of Ares IV - even after the war, and into the War of Vengeance, Indigo would still fight in extensively improved and upgraded Mark V suits. Members Template:Indigo/Andrew|Andrew-306 Template:Indigo/Laura|Laura-125 Template:Indigo/Jeremy|Jeremy-068 Career Remarks *"My company was holed up in a skyscraper, wraith tanks surrounding us. An Elite stepped forward - I can still remember what he shouted out. "Surrender humans, and find a place within the Covenant. You have proven brave and formidible warriors, but we have also provent that this is not enough to forestall your defeat! We have numbers on our side, and we have the will of the gods, whose wrath you suffer! What do you have?" And then we all hear the thing gurgle, and someone say on a wideband broadcast, "I've got your weapon."" *"OLYNDICUS had SHOGUN investigate abuses of November Black and rumours of Spartans off the grid - by "the grid," I mean that Indigo was something that even they didn't know about. If there are rogue elements in ONI siphoning off things like Spartans for their own purposes, then that means that there's a LOT more going on than mere personnel transfer and classification. November Black has seen a lot of abuse." *"The Labyrinth was like a maze - twisting tunnels, corridors leading back on themselves, the dimensions constantly changing. Its a miracle they led us out of there in one piece, nevermind not losing their way once! You think that's a Reclaimer thing, or are Spartans just that good?" Sources Category:War of Vengeance